FFXIII Novelization
by the novelizer
Summary: Hey guys! This is my first novelization. I may constantly be changing it to fix mistakes. sorry for the confusion. I hope you guys enjoy. If any of you find the character descriptions annoying I want to apologize in advance. I'm trying to make it seem as much a book as possible. the bold words is Vanille narrating. Disclaimer: I own nothing related to FFXIII or it's developers.
1. Chapter 1: part 1 and 2

**Chapter One: The Hanging Edge**

**Prologue**

Cocoon-a utopia in the sky.

Its inhabitants believed their world was a

paradise. Under the sanctum's rule, Cocoon

had long known peace and prosperity.

Their tranquility was shattered with the

discovery of one hostile fal'Cie

The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse-the

feared and detested lowerworld-awoke

from it's slumber, peace on Cocoon came

to an end.

fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into

magic-wielding servants.

They become l'Cie-chosen of the fal'Cie.

Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry

the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or

facing a fate harsher than death itself.

A prayer for redemption.

A wish to protect the world.

A promise to challenge destiny.

After thirteen days of fates intertwined,

the battle begins.

**_The thirteen days after we awoke were the beginning of the end._**

**Final Fantasy XIII**

* * *

**Part One:Defiers of Fate**

Lightning stared at the shackles binding her hands to the hooded purge robes she was wearing as she waited for the purge train to reach it's destination at lake Bresha. She went over the plan she had been forming since the day before again in her head. Every detail had to be in place. Her timing had to be perfect. If she were off even by a few seconds, everything she had worked for to get her this far would be for nothing.

A PSICOM guard entered the room with his gun at the ready and laser pointer on. His uniform consisted of the standard military armor with a gas mask and yellow glowing eye sockets giving him the appearance of an intimidating scuba diver. He pointed his gun at the deportees to make sure they didn't do anything that could jeopardize the task at hand as the train entered the tunnel. Everything was going according to plan.

"You serious?" whispered the man named Sazh sitting next to Lightning.

"Be quiet." she snapped in reply as the guard came close.

Sazh stole a look at the guard and smirked. "Hmm, best of luck." he whispered as the guard walked past. It was almost time. Any second now...

The train lurched forward as it crashed through a security force field, knocking the guard off balance. Lightning took this moment to strike. Using the momentum from the crash she ran towards the guard before he had time to regain his balance. She leaped over the guard and hooked her shackles under the guard's neck, making him drop the transmitter controlling the shackles. She changed her velocity as to make sure she snapped the guards neck and crushed the transmitter. The shackles from the deportees came off as the signal died.

"She did it!" exclaimed Sazh as he looked at his newly freed hands. People began to run as a pair of guards entered the room to check on the commotion.

"Hands high!"

"Freeze!"

The guards began to fire into the crowd aiming towards Lightning. She took advantage of the gunfire, performing a front flip causing the bullets to shred the purge robes she was wearing allowing the guards to get a good look at the one who was causing all the trouble. She was a young woman with long light pink hair, with the bangs swept to the right of her forehead and the rest of her hair curling over the front on the other side.

She wore the standard Guardian Corps uniform which consisted of a white sleeveless vest that reached past her waist and had a raised collar that was fastened under her bust with a belt and some buckles leaving the bottom and top of the vest unfastened. On the vest was a large buckled pocket that hung around the waist area. Under the vest was a brownish red sleeveless turtleneck with a zipper that went all the way up to her throat. On her left shoulder was a small metallic pauldron with two glowing yellow stripes that identified her as a lieutenant in the Guardian Corps. On the other shoulder, a long red scarf was fastened giving it the appearance of a single shoulder cape. She also wore a brown leather skirt fastened to her waist with a belt. Strapped to her left thigh was a red leather cargo pouch with a strap going around her waist. She also wore a pair of steel-soled leather boots with the tongues exposed that came up just below her knees. And to finish the look of there was an empty case fastened that hung off the back of her belt that was open at one end and looked like it held a weapon before Lightning had boarded the purge train. She had a determined look on her face that gave her the air of a very intimidating woman.

Lightning leaped at the men ducking and bringing her foot up in a roundhouse sweep towards their faces before resuming a ready pose. Another PSICOM guard rushed in and aimed his gun. Before he could even pull the trigger Lightning disarmed him and knocked out all in one movement. Grabbing the soldier's gun she ran down the hallway towards another set of doors hiding next to them. As they opened she opened fire on a soldier who had taken cover behind some chairs.

Suddenly the soldier leaped from behind his hiding place and charged at Lightning, firing his gun, running directly into a roundhouse kick from Lightning's boot and shot down a soldier who had leaped out of hiding. _To easy, "_Hmm"she smirked and continued down the train.

Meanwhile, Sazh had shed his robes and was helping the purgees regroup. He was a middle aged man with dark skin and an afro. He wore an olive green aviator's (coat from his job as a transportation pilot for children) over a pair of khaki trousers a white button down shirt over a black T-shirt, and a pair of black leather buckled engineer boots, with fingerless gloves. Strapped to his thighs was a pair of holsters holding the standard Vega 42 pistols, which were capable of connecting into a shotgun should the situation require it.

"You all right?" he asked a boy who was hiding behind some boy looked up at Sazh in terror. "I'm not a L'cie" he reasured the boy. At this moment a small chocobo chick popped out of Sazh's hair and let out a cheep of encouragement. At this the boy smiled and got up.

Further ahead, Lightning found herself surrounded in the weapons bay. Snapping her fingers at her waist she activated the AMP Grav-Con Unit mana drive embedded in her fingertips. AMPs were issued to all soldiers in the Guardian Corps and PSICOM. It granted the user abilites that were almost like magic. Lightning's Grav-Con Unit allowed her to defy gravity letting her leap higher than any normal human, and fall slower. As she began to glow with electricity, she leaped back twisting her body and outreaching her hand, pinned a PSICOM to the wall releasing a small burst of energy. She launched off the wall, drop kicking another PSICOM and firing on the soldiers. Flipping herself up to the ceiling, she put another soldier down. Things were going exactly as planned.

Sazh came into the room with a gun leading a group of rebel deportees. "So far so good." he reported to Lightning. She pulled her Blazefire Saber-A sword that reverted to gun form and was only issued to highly trained soldiers. It had been confiscated upon her boarding the Purge train.

"They all want to fight." Sazh continued indicating the armed purgees behind him while eyeing Lightning's gunblade.

"Good for them" she muttered as she readied her gunblade. She stuck her head outside as the purge train reached Lake Bresha. Outside was chaos. What had once gone from a populous civilization to a desolate wasteland was now a war zone. Battle airships and militarized wyverns called Garuda interceptors were picking off purge survivors from the other previous train that had apparently crashed. Some survivors had managed to get a hold of some weapons and were fighting back, but PSICOM's military was pushing them back. Ships were crashing into nearby buildings and fires were raging all over the lake. This wasn't a purge. This was a massacre.

"Give me that!" Lightning ordered snatching one of the bazookas that Sazh had been carrying on his back. She locked onto a pair of interceptors that were closing in on them. She fired and the wyverns easily veered away from the incoming missile. She fired again and missed. The one of the garudas charged a bolt of electricity and fired at the tracks. The surge of energy raced up the tracks and caught up with the train and derailing the back cars from from the tracks and sending it crashing.

Meanwhile things were getting worse for the purge rebels. PSICOM had activated their AMP summon portals. Pantherons burst through, which looked like a cross between a wolf sized canine and cyborg. Through another burst a beta behemoth- a huge canine-esque beast in PSICOM armor. It had long flowing ears and on its head was a horn like crest. It reared up on its hind legs, pulling the crest out of its head creating a sword. It let out a ground shaking roar that caused several rebels to pull away in fear as it swung its sword at the nearest deportees.

Out of the sky flew a huge white scorpion looking machine with a row of four spin saw blades on each arm. It swooped down on the train Lightning was on and latched itself onto the top. She recognized it as a manasvin warmech, used in military assaults. This was not looking good. The warmech hacked at the train using its tail, tearing a hole in the train sending Lightning and the other purge rebels flying."Run!"Sazh urged Lightning. _No_ she thought. _Not when I'm this close._ She would not run away. She charged towards the tear in the roof and leaped out. "I meant away!" Sazh yelled.

* * *

**Part Two: Fields of War**

He followed after her and crawled up through the hole. When he looked up Lighting had reverted her blazefire to sword mode and had it pointed at the warmech. She pulled herself into a ready stance with her blade raised just below her chin. She eyed the warmech, watching for its next move. It leaped into the air as if to try and intimidate her. The train shook as it came back down knocking Sazh over. "Hey, hey, hey!," he shouted at it, "lets be rational now!"

The warmech swung it's spin-saw arm towards the pair. Lightning performed a backflip away from the arm, while Sazh managed to narrowly escape being shredded to bits. "They're sending in the big guns now." he said scrambling to his feet. "What do we do?" he asked lightning.

"Watch and learn." she replied. The manasvin warmech pulled backed it's arm and the blades began to spin and crackle with electricity. Lightning readied herself. With that the machine brought it's arm down and the saws spun towards Lightning. She leaped out of range of the arm, and began to charge at it, and began slashing at weak points in it's armor as Sazh covered her with his pistols. She ducked out of the way of another arm and began to slash at the warmech. Thankfully the blazefire saber was designed to cut through metal in the case of Pulse's war machines.

After a few leaps and slashes the machine reared up and leaped backwards. It put it's arms on either side of the train and began to violently shake it. "Fall back!" Lightning yelled to Sazh and began to run up the train away from the warmech until they where the train's cars weren't shaking so hard. They turned around and looked at the warmech.

Sazh laughed. "Not so tough now, huh?" he taunted. As if in response, a pair of hatches opened in the back of the manasvin warmech's upper arms and began to spew blue fire. The train began to shake more violently with the added boost from the flames.

Sazh's jaw dropped."Hey, that wasn't like a challenge now, all right?" he pleaded. And suddenly the force of the shaking began to knock the cars off the tracks.

"Time to go!" Sazh yelled as he and Lightning began to run up the train, however the shaking caught up with them. Lightning slid to a stop as the train began to tilt sideways. Using her momentum she pushed herself up the side of the train and swung herself up with one of the rails onto the side of the train that was facing up and slid down the train like a skateboard before somersaulting down to a detached train car.

Meanwhile Sazh was coming down in his own way running down the side of the train trying to keep ahead of the collapsing cars. "I'm coming!" he called to Lightning. The train was beginning to catch up.

"Jump!" Lightning shouted.

Sazh obeyed and jumped off the end of the tracks. He landed on his hands and knees and caught his breath. The chocobo that was riding in his hair landed and struck a pose as if it had performed an Olympic feat.

"Heads up." Lightning warned Sazh as he got to his feet. She readied her gunblade. "This thing won't give up!" Sazh complained as the warmech crashed down to pursue them. The armor on its head began to split down the middle, revealing a very dangerous looking cannon.

"Take cover!" Lightning warned ducking behind some rubble. At this, a white hot beam of energy shot from the cannon. Sazh was barely able to avoid it before getting burned. As it was closing it's head, Lightning took advantage and charged, getting in a slash at it's internal system before the head fully closed.

The warmech raised it's tail and fired a short but fast burst of energy that sent Lightning stumbling back a few feet. Thankfully the shot had just grazed her but, it still hurt. The warmech charged it's arm for another electric attack. Suddenly there were two loud bangs, and the spinsaws on the arm stopped spinning and exploded. Lightning looked behind her towards the source of the bang. Sazh's pistols were still raised, the barrels smoking. His bullets had gotten jammed in the saws. She didn't know if he was that good or if it was just a lucky shot, but he may come in more use than she thought.

"Cover me." She ordered as she charged at the warmech as Sazh began shooting again. She was able to dodge another short burst of energy and slid under the warmech's head thrusting her blazefire saber into the area where it's head connected to it's body. She quickly dodged out of the way as the manasvin warmech began to short circuit. It stepped backwards bringing it closer to the edge. Then it's chest exploded, sending it toppling over the edge. Into the darkness. Lightning watched it fall. PSICOM was getting desperate if they were bringing in warmechs.

Sazh sat down exhausted. "Oh goodness." He sighed. "Whew. We did it." He said smiling at Lightning. She walked over to the other side of the train and knelt down, peering over the edge. Warships flew over head firing at the purgees. Lighting got up and changed her gunblade to gun form, and put it in the holster hanging from her back below her waist. She turned and began to walk away.

"Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, soldier?" Sazh called to her. She stopped and turned her head towards him. "I mean you are sanctum, aren't you?" he said getting to his feet.

The Sanctum was Cocoon's central government, and maintained direct authority over the military making part of what he was asking partially correct. "What're you doing trying to stop the purge? Why don't you tell me that?" he continued.

Lightning turned to look at Sazh. "I _was _a soldier." she corrected. She walked toward the edge of the train and jumped down.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Sazh shouted after her. He sighed in exasperation. This woman was hard to keep up with. The chocobo chick flew out of Sazh's hair, and rested on his palm and proceeded to clean under it's wing. "Chocobo," he said to the little bird. "We just can't catch a break, can we?" The bird cheeped in response and flew into the air.

"Yea, that's a good question." He said as if he understood what the little was saying. "Oh well, better follow her." He said and began to climb down the overturned train. The chocobo chick returned to it's nest in his home. Soon it would be bigger than sazh and would have to find a new nest. "I'm getting to old for this." He complained as he climbed down the side.

"You sure we can get through here?" he asked catching up to Lightning, who ignored him. A battle airship crashed in front of them sending rubble flying everywhere and almost knocking Sazh back. She checked her datalog and studied the map looking for the fastest root. The datalog was issued to every soldier and could tell her almost anything and was designed to update should she run into a situation that her datalog couldn't yet comprehend. It could even provide a digital map of the surrounding area. She was still a ways off from her target. She had a long night ahead of her.

She continued forward with Sazh following close behind finding cover whenever a warship passed to close, taking out soldiers if it came to fighting. Eventually they came across a PSICOM soldier standing guard next to a summoning portal. She took cover behind a pile of rubble nearby and studied the scene in front of her. If that soldier summoned a behemoth, it would be very difficult getting through without getting seriously injured and she could not afford that. Behemoths were tough but if you manage to knock them back some, they would resort to standing on their hind legs and swinging their crest blades blindly. She prayed the soldier would summon something small, like a pantheron. They were fast, but easily staggered. Once they were staggered, they were easy to dispatch.

"Not wanting to get purged I get." Sazh whispered behind her as she watched the soldier. "But taking on trained soldiers?" he asked.

"Better to die than to get sent to Pulse. It's hell without the brimstone." she explained, eyes still on the soldier.

The PSICOM punched in a few buttons on the summoning portal's control panel on his wrist. Out of the portal two Pantheron hounds materialized. They sniffed the air and growled. Pantherons were blind but had an amazing sense of smell. It would only be a matter of time before they sniffed out Lightning and Sazh.

"Yeah, well hell's not sounding too bad." Sazh said eying the machine dogs. " 'Cause this place ain't exactly paradise."

"Domesticated peacekeepers. Nothing to worry about." Lighting reassured.

"Maybe not for a soldier girl, but-Hey!" Sazh started as Lightning rushed into view of the soldier, ending up following her instead of finishing what he was going to say.

Lightning leaped over the pantherons and brought her gunblade down on the soldier before he had the chance to aim at her. He went down in two swings of her gunblade. She turned to face the hounds and found them staying out of the way of Sazh's bullets she swung her gunblade in a sweeping circle knocking them down and finishing one with a shot from her blazefire while Sazh finished the other.

She continued on following her datalog's map. The destination on her map told her that she was making progress but still a ways away from her target. As she was walking she noticed Sazh had stopped. She looked behind and noticed he was looking sadly down on the platform below them. A group of rebels were firing helplessly on a behemoth. With a roar the behemoth charged the rebels, killing them under it's feet. "Murder," Sazh said sadly. "Cold blooded murder."

Lightning continued on. She didn't have time to worry about the affairs of others. They got themselves into that mess by trying to fight back. Now they were in the middle of a warzone, and that meant biological weapons weren't an exception. She rounded a makeshift barricade and came across a PSICOM guard obviously assigned to take care of any rebels that made it through the front lines. And he wasn't paying attention.

"Preemptive strike." she whispered to Sazh drawing her gunblade. She crept up on the unsuspecting guard. Suddenly a menacing growl came to Lightning's left. She looked in that direction to find a pantheron running towards her. The guard turned around and spotted the pair.

"Rebels!" he shouted excitedly. He chose the wrong rebel to take down.

"So much for the element of surprise." Sazh complained. This wasn't a stabbed the pantheron and left Sazh to finish it as she fired down the guard. He went down easily.

Sheathing her gunblade, Lightning continued down the walkway. In front of them the ground exploded as a missile struck, sending Sazh flying backwards and knocking Lightning off balance. She crossed her forearms over her face to protect it from the overwhelming heat. In front of them Rebels and soldiers fell screaming to their deaths below as the walkway collapsed below their feet from the force of the explosion. As the heat faded, Lightning lowered her arms to take in the damage in front of her. Where the walkway had been was a huge gap with most of the walkway destroyed. She threw her arm aside in frustration. She was so close, and now her path was ruined.

"Do we turn back?" Sazh panted, getting to his feet.

"There's no time." She said.

"Then what do you suggest we d-?"

"Quiet!" she snapped. She walked to the edge of the gap, and peered over. There was just enough energy in her graviton unit for herself. Sazh would have to take care of himself from this point on. She raised her hand slightly above her hip and snapped her finger. A burst of energy erupted where her fingers were and a wave of electricity spread over her body. And with that, she began to float off of the ground. Sazh saw what she was about to do and paniced.

"Hey!" he said running towards Lightning. She was his ticket out of this place, and he'd be damned if she just left him here. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her down. Lightning began to kick and squirm as she tried to release his grasp.

"Wait!" he pleaded, hanging on desperately. "No, no, don't leave me!" he placed a hand on his face and began to desperately push him off of her.

"Let go!" She shouted at him.

"Hell no, you're my only way out of here!" he said struggling to hold on.

She drove her knee into his gut and backhanded him, knocking him down. Lightning snapped her fingers. There was a spark of energy but no results. She tried again, and recieved the same results. _Dammit!_ she thought. Her AMP was out of energy. Sazh was on the ground massaging his jaw when he looked up.

"Hey, that might get us across!" Sazh shouted behind her. "Right there!" he pointed. She looked where he was pointing, and saw a flying platform bridge coming towards them.

"Right?" he asked still on all fours.

Lightning looked down at him. Looks like she was stuck with him a little longer. "Looks that way." she said with a sigh. She continued on towards the bridge with Sazh following slowly behind leaving the wreckage behind them.

"Leave this to me." he said rushing ahead. Sazh was very good with piloting things due to his job as a pilot. A control panel rose from the ground and turned on. He scratched his head and studied the controls. "Seems to be in working order." he said. He punched in a few buttons and the platform lowered onto the platform bridge. Lightning leaped over the edge to find a PSICOM marauder with a few soldiers.

They were the elite members of PSICOM and they were ruthless in battle. She had seen a few of them in the military academy, and they were a force to be reckoned with. They wore heavy armor and carried a spiked mace looking baton around wherever they went. She had never seen what these were used for but knew they were more than they appeared. They were also given mana drives, which granted them almost magical abilities. Thankfully, this one didn't seem seem to be paying attention.

"This is not our lucky day." Sazh complained. It was one threat after the next. He looked at Lightning.

"He's a soldier too, right?" he asked. "Can't you like, pull some strings or something?" he inquired.

She ignored him. If it was that easy, they wouldn't have had to fight all those other soldiers. They didn't care anymore, so long as they got the job done. Guardian Corps to them was the same as a deportee. She continued toward the marauder and his guards. She would have to find out if her theory was correct. The marauder looked up from the control panel he was messing with and saw Lightning walking towards them. He walked towards her.

"Deportees, are we?" he asked cockily. He raised his mace baton horizontally in front of his face.

"Weapons down." he ordered. "I'd hate for this to turn ugly." he mused. Pushing a switch on the baton it elongated into a lethal looking spear. He swung it to his side, and continued towards Lightning.

"Uh, turn ugly?" Sazh asked Lightning.

She stepped in front of Sazh and drew her blazefire saber. So much for letting a Guardian Corps through. "He wants to kill us without a fight." She explained positioning herself into a ready stance. Sazh drew his pistols. He'd leave the PSICOM elite to Lightning while he focused on the soldiers.

"Time's up!" the marauder shouted and he moved with inhuman speed at Lightning, bringing his spear down. She ducked and rolled out of the way as the spear struck where she had been standing moments before. meanwhile Sazh was firing at the soldiers who had been left in the dust by their commander. Lightning swung her gunblade at the marauder, but he easily deflected it with his spear. He smacked her with the butt end of his spear sending her sprawling. He began to glow as he began to charge his mana drive. _No you don't!_ Lightning reverted her gunblade to gun form, and fired with enough force to knock him down. She charged at him and began to slash at him. He was barely able to stay out of reach of the deadly single edged sword, ducking and blocking. He sent Lightning flying and jabbed at her with her spear. She attempted to leap out of range, but the spear revealed another trick. It could extend its head up to a foot. Lightning was barely able to block with her sword before the spear reached it's full length and retracted. She fell to the ground hopeless. The marauder charged his mana drive. This time it would be charged.

Sazh in the meantime had taken care of the guards and aiming his pistols at the commander, fired. The bullets ricocheted of the maruader's armor. He turned around to face Sazh and sent a fire ball in his direction. Sazh dodged just as the fireball exploded where he had been moments before. Lightning took advantage of the momentary distraction, and just as the PSICOM marauder turned around to finish off Lightning, she had plunged her gunblade through his armor and into his chest. Although she couldn't see his eyes, she knew there must be a look of shock as he fell to the ground dead. She sheathed her gunblade and walked with Sazh over to the control panel the commander had been typing on.

"So, soldier..." Sazh started, examining the control panel and turning to Lightning. "What's your angle?" he finished. She looked at him and then turned away.

He turned back to the control panel and slid his finger along the control panel and activated it. "What, is it classified military info." He asked as the panel hummed to life. She ignored him.

He turned to her "What's it matter?" he asked. " You quit, didn't you? You think I'm just gonna go out there and tell everybody your secret?"

"The Pulse fal'Cie." She said finally. Sazh stared at her wide eyed. She turned to him.

"My 'angle.' I'm after the fal'Cie." she explained.

The fal'Cie were supernatural ageless beings that looked like machines but were more that. They were responsible for the creation and maintenance of the land where humans lived, and indirectly governed their lives. They could be described as god machines with a crystal sustaining their life fal'Cie had it's own role in the well being of the worlds. They didn't die of old age but they could be killed. They possessed intense magical power beyond human comprehension. There were two kinds of fal'Cie. There were the Cocoon fal'Cie who created Cocoon and protected it's inhabitants. Cocoon was what could be called a floating continent. Below it lay the world Cocoon floated over-Pulse.

This is where the other fal'Cie lived. The very mention of a Pulse fal'Cie sends the citizens of Cocoon into fear. The Sanctum had spread tales of how Pulse and it's inhabitants were enemies of Cocoon and that the only safe place was on Cocoon. Pulse is described as a hellish place where no one but it's inhabitants could survive. Despite their differences, Pulse and Cocoon fal'Cie had one ability. They had the ability to brand a human being (with or without their will) with their respective symbol turning them into servants of the fal'Cie and granting them magical powers. These humans are called l'Cie. When branded l'Cie are given a task or focus to complete within time. If they fail they are transformed into grotesque monsters. If they succeed, they are turned into crystal put into an everlasting sleep. Cocoon l'Cie are regarded as heroes, while Pulse l'Cie are viewed as tainted and cursed.

About five centuries ago, there was a war with Pulse. Pulse's military had managed to crack the outer shell of Cocoon leaving a gaping hole revealing the inside of Cocoon. However Cocoon's fal'Cie stepped in and pushed the invaders back, ending the war. Ever since then, there has been an unwavering fear of another Pulsian invasion. The fal'Cie went to work repairing Cocoon using whatever bits of Pulse they could use. However the task was abandoned and the site of the war-Lake Bresha was closed off to the public. A few days ago, the Sanctum discovered the presence of a Pulse fal'Cie sleeping in one of the Pulse vestiges used to repair Cocoon in the city of Bodhum. All the citizens were evacuated and voted to be 'purged' or deported to Pulse along with the fal'Cie for fear of anyone being a Pulse l'Cie. It was for that reason that Lightning was after the pulse fal'Cie. And she had to reach it before it was destroyed or her mission would have been all for nothing.

Lightning walked past Sazh and pulled out the handle of a lever on the control panel and pushing it down it's z shaped latch. The platform shook as it hummed to life and began to move. "Still happy you tagged along?" She said sarcastically. Sazh looked down at the ground.

"Didn't have a choice." he whispered more to himself as Lightning walked away to check on the progress of the platform. He had his own reasons for following Lightning, and now he knew that although they had completely different reasons, they both had the same goal. And as the platform headed toward's their destination, he realized he would have to stick with her till the end.


	2. Chapter one: Part 3

**Part 3: Another Rebellion**

Cocoon's Sanctum had a set hierarchy. At the bottom, the Cocoon citizens. In the middle was the military, and the top of the pyramid belonged the Primarch-Galenth Dysley. Voted into power by Cocoon's citizens, he had shown himself to be a wise, and rational liberal minded leader with only the best interests of Cocoon at heart. However this changed when he instigated the Purge. His appearance is that of an elderly man with ornate gold and white robes covered in gold jewelry with a blue shawl over his arms and crossing over his chest. He wore a headdress with circular gold ornamentation at the top giving it the appearance of a crown. From the headdress was a lavender veil over his head parted to reveal his face. In his hands he carried a staff bearing the emblem of the fal'Cie god Lindzei with snakes coiled around it. As the purge rebels fought PSICOM his voice could be heard from a recording on all the loudspeakers in Lake Bresha.

"On behalf of Cocoon's citizens..." his voice began, "...I would like to thank our brave Pulse pioneers and express our best wishes for a successful relocation. Your noble and selfless sacrifice ensures the continued safety and peace of our society." the recording went on as guns fired and flares were launched.

"Were it not for this remarkable gesture..." the voice continued, "every resident of Cocoon-your family, your friends, your neighbors would be exposed to the dangers of the world below. By choosing to leave Cocoon, and participating in this migration-" The voice was cut off as a large foot crushed the speaker.

"'Migration'? More like 'extermination'." Said a young man of about nineteen. He had feathery blue long hair and strikingly golden eyes. He wore an orange shirt with a subtle yellow gradient, with a dark red long sleeved shirt underneath as well as black leather pants and boots, with a bag sewn onto the right hip. Tucked under his belt was a scarf adorned with feathers. He wore a necklace with a patterned leather square, with a metal pendant hanging from the square. This was the current fashion of Cocoon and this guy was all for it.

"Yuj." said the owner of the foot that had crushed the speaker, addressing the young man. "You stay here."

Yuj looked down at the ground. " S-sorry," he stammered. " I didn't mean to-"

The man sighed and shook his head. "These people need heroes!" He said, holding his fist in front of his face. He grabbed the hand Yuj was holding his gun with and raised it so that he was holding it with both hands.

"Here. You keep your cool, and they will to." he reassured, indicating the deportees near them. He put a hand on Yuj's shoulder.

"You got it?" the man asked.

"Got it." Yuj replied, nodding his walked away from Yuj and turned back to look at him. Yuj stood at attention.

"The army's no match for NORA!" he shouted. The man turned around and gave him a wink and a thumbs up.

"Attaboy." The man ruffled Yuj's hair and laughed, before turning to climb over the rubble.

His name was Snow Villiers. He had light blond hair that reached down to his shoulders, blue eyes, and a stubble beard. he wore a black bandanna, black leather gloves, large gray boots, a light blue vest over a black shirt and a striped blue scarf hanging from his belt. Over all this he wore a beige trench coat that was frayed at the hems, had a brassard on the left sleeve, and infused with AMP technology giving him a boost to his strength. Around his neck he wore a pendant with a cat etched onto it, which was the logo of his group-NORA. Along with this he wore a necklace with a silver orb that resembled Cocoon with a pillar spiraling down from the bottom. Giving it the appearance of resting on a pillar. He was the leader of this group, and it showed.

NORA is a paramilitary organization of youths headed by none other than Snow. They originally assisted in tracking down monsters and hunting them down. But that changed with the discovery of the Pulse fal'Cie, and the purge. They convinced deportees to rebel and fight back against PSICOM. They changed their motto from 'Pulse is no match for NORA' to 'The army is no match for NORA.' and supplied the deportees with weapons and ammo. The Sanctum had originally turned a blind eye to the organization's antics because they had never openly opposed the Sanctum, but once word got out about who was leading the rebellion, Snow had a feeling they would make NORA's life difficult.

As he walked through the deportees, he saw that they had lost their spirit. Either they were moping or sitting on the ground in defeat. It truly was a sad sight. This only helped to enforce Snow's objectives. He would bring smiles back to their faces even if it meant killing. He was the hero after all. And heroes always help somebody in need, and save the day.

* * *

There are five core members of NORA. There was Snow- the optimistic leader, Yuj- the fashionable and amiable mood maker, Gadot (pronounced as Gado)- Snow's hot-headed right hand man, Maqui- the young and childish mechanic, and Lebreau- The mature mother figure and bartender. They were Snow's closest friends and allies.

Snow was raised as in orphan alongside Gadot in a sanctum facility, and they have been best friends since. Gadot is known to have a temper and serves as NORA's shock trooper. Gadot is a dark skinned, heavily muscled man with dark skin and and fiery red and orange spiked hair shaved on the sides of his head. He always wears an open vest with a fur rimmed hood, baggy shorts, fingerless gloves and beach sandals. Around his neck he wears a pendant with the word 'Posse' engraved on it. Despite his personality, he is kind-hearted and has a soft spot.

Although Yuj isn't as brave as the other members of NORA, he has a calming influence, making him a valuable member of the team. He is more mature and level headed than some of the members, but he is also vain and narcissistic. To Yuj NORA was more of a family to him than a group of friends.

Maqui is the group's mechanic. Before he met Snow, he stayed at home and tinkered until Snow pulled him out. He looks up to Snow and wants to be a leader like him one day. Maqui has blond hair, blue eyes and a round face. He even fashioned his look after Snow. He always has a pair of goggles strapped to his forehead and a pair of wireless headphones he uses to communicate with the other NORA members. He wears black heavy jacket with pink sleeves and a red S-like symbol across the left side of his chest along with a brassard like Snow's on his left sleeve and a fingerless glove on his left hand. He wore a pair of baggy khaki pants with brown pouches filled with all kinds of devices, should the situation call for it. And to top it off he wears a pair of purple and silver shoes.

And the one person Snow can look up to in a bad situation- Lebreau. She has shoulder length black hair, and light brown eyes. She wears a purple bikini top over a mostly white unbuttoned blouse, a short purple and green half skirt over even shorter brown shorts, black and pink knee high stockings, and red platform heels giving her a very high sex-appeal among the male Bodhum citizens. However her personality did not match her outfit. She has a very tomboyish personality, treated like one of the guys, and could easily body slam Gadot any day of the week. She talks and acts much more mature than her age, and sometimes acts as the mother of NORA. She is someone the members of NORA looked up to and respected. She owns a bar in Bodhum, which she uses to fund NORA's activities.

At the moment though, Gadot, Maqui, and Lebreau found themselves in a tough situation. They were under heavy fire from PSICOM behind barricades, trying to keep them from advancing on the deportees behind them. PSICOM wasn't giving up easy, and they were advancing quickly.

"Aw, this is crazy!" Maqui said, ducking behind his barricade.

"Then take a nap." Gadot said, keeping his eyes on the enemy.

Maqui turned around, a hopeful look in his eyes. "Really, can I?"

Gadot ducked behind his barricade and looked at the clueless boy. "Sure, and when we're taking a _dirt _nap, you can save 'em all." he barked.

Maqui flopped down on the ground. "Aw, that's even worse!" he said in defeat.

At that moment, Snow managed to land safely from some rubble. Keeping low, he made his way over to Maqui, who immediately shot up not wanting to look lazy in front of his hero.

"No dirt naps today!" Snow said cheerfully. He looked at Maqui and grinned. "We're all in this together."

He looked over the barricade and peered at the advancing PSICOM unit. "Our enemy's the Cocoon Sanctum!" he preached. "they're dreaded PSICOM, no less." he said cockily.

"What's to dread?" Lebreau said ducking behind her barricade. "PSICOM's nothing but a whole bunch of bluster and bullying. They've got nothing on NORA." she said turning her attention back to the enemy.

"Well, we are the heroes after all" said Gadot, who was now standing fully away from his barricade firing on the advancing soldiers.

Snow grinned and stood up. He was ready to go in. "Let's prove it!" he shouted.

Now everyone was standing. "Yea!" they all cheered. And with their resolve fully loaded, they charged towards the oncoming PSICOM soldiers. Snow had two personal mottos. Always be the hero, and only use guns when appropriate. As if he actually needed guns. When he and Gadot were in the Sanctum facility they had received military martial arts training. Whereas Gadot fell in love with the biggest gun he could find, All Snow needed was his leather gloves and his AMP tech bulletproof trenchcoat which he never went anywhere without. He was just as deadly with his fists as he was with any gun. With the NORA members watching his back right behind him, he punched and kicked and kicked his way through the troops while throwing the occasional hand grenade.

* * *

Eventually they made their way to another huge pile of rubble. Everyone crouched down behind the rubble and peered around the edge. With a sigh, Maqui flopped himself on the ground.

"No more." he whined.

Lebreau sighed. The poor boy had had a long day and miraculously survived. She placed a hand on her hip and hefted her rifle onto her shoulder. She looked at the scene in front of her.

"There are soldiers everywhere." she observed. Gadot nodded and leaned his head down to Snow. "Yo Boss, what's the plan?" he whispered already knowing the answer.

Snow stood up and grinned. He always loved this part. And anyone who thought otherwise would say it to his fist.

"Charge in, guns blazing." he answered matter of factly. Gadot grinned. This is why they've been freinds since the facility. They both loved a good challenge. Maqui however, was not as thrilled.

"Hey!," he pointed at Snow. "That's not a plan!" he complained. Lebreau looked at Maqui and smiled.

"Real heroes don't need plans." she said looking at Snow.

He grinned, and turned around to face the soldiers in front of them. The fun was already starting. A pack of pantherons had managed to sniff them out and were now closing in for the kill. Snow threw a grenade, and while they were confused, proceeded to make short work of them while Gadot, Lebreau, and Maqui took care of the soldiers in charge of the hounds-Gadot more than the rest.

"Don't you kids go falling behind now!" Gadot yelled cheerfully at Lebreau and Maqui.

"I don't have a machine gun! I have a rifle! I only get one hit per shot!" Lebreau yelled back.

Snow smiled as he listened to his friends argue. It's good to know that even through all this wartime, they still had time to bicker. These were the kind of friends that Snow could rely on anytime in any situation. And this is why the army is no match for NORA.


	3. Chapter 1: Part 4 and 5

**Chapter 1 part 4: The Warpath Home**

Eventually, Snow and the rest of the crew came across a group of deportees. They were a miserable bunch, and it made him sad watching it. Snow walked up to the deportees and took in the scene. They were sitting or standing around with most hanging their heads in defeat. Some had shed their robes and were dressed in the clothes they had been wearing before the purge.

Finally he spoke up. "You all okay?" he asked looking around at them.

Most of them looked up at him with sad eyes, but didn't say a word. Among them was a middle aged woman sitting next to her son of about fourteen. Snow could see that she still had a little bit of fight left on her. Maqui stumbled over with his arms full of guns that he had been gathering before tripping in his rush to catch up with Snow.

"Hey, careful with those." he said, annoyed. Maqui laughed guiltily, and began to gather up the guns. Snow looked back at the deportees.

"Don't worry," he reassured, "no one's moving to Pulse today. We'll clear a path out of here so be ready to-"

"Wait!" came a voice. From the right a man stood up with renewed vigor. "Let me fight with you!" he said with a fierce look in his eyes.

"Yeah, you can't just expect us to sit here!" came another deportee still in his purge robes. They all began to yell and shout, begging to fight.

Snow sighed. All he had to do was appear, and all of a sudden they were willing to fight? _Do I really have that affect on people? _He thought to himself. He turned to Gadot, who was looking questioningly at him.

"Could help." he whispered to his comrade. They were a determined bunch willing to fight for their home. This alone served as moral for them to use. And they would help clear a path through the oncoming PSICOM soldiers.

Gadot nodded. "Yep." he replied.

The man who had stood up first spoke again. "Please. Let us help." he begged with a pleading look in his eyes.\

An explosion went off a few yards away. Snow looked at the rising ball of fire. _This isn't good_. They were closing in fast, and he was loosing time. He had no choice now. The deportees would have to fight. He turned back to the deportees now turned rebels.

"Okay then." he said cheerfully, "volunteers front and center." he commanded. After a moments pause, most of the deportees got up and began to line up in front of Maqui as he started to hand out guns. "Here. Take this one. Here you go. And one for you."

The mother who was next to her son watched the young boy hand out the guns. After thinking for a bit, she stood up.

"Mom?" he questioned as she got up. She turned around to look at the young boy and gave him an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry." she reassured before turning to leave. He watched her leave, secretly hoping she would leave the line and come back. The NORA members were showing the rebels how to use the guns they were being assigned before the mother walked up to a machine gun lying on the ground and picked it up. Snow turned around as he heard the weapon click to see the woman walking up to him. He looked her up and down. She didn't look like she wanted to fight.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yea." she said quietly as she positioned the gun so that she was holding it in a ready formation. "Moms are tough." she said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Snow immediate understood what was going on. He smiled knowingly. She had a lot more to fight for than just her home. She needed to protect her son at any cost. He stole a quick glance at the boy she had been sitting next to, but couldn't see his face because of the purge robes he was still wearing.

"Right." he answered and she took her place among the armed rebels. He held out his hand to take the extra gun from Gadot.

"It's the last one, Boss." he informed.

Snow walked up to the remaining group of deportees that weren't armed, stopping in front of the boy. He held the gun high above his head for the deportees to see.

"All right, last one." he informed. "Somebody take it." he ordered.

He switched the gun, so that he was holding it by the barrel in his other hand and held it out to the boy.

He scooted back "No...I can't." he said fearfully shaking his head. A young girl who had been sitting next to him stood up on her knees and held out her hands like a child receiving a large gift.

"Here!" she said perkily with a foreign accent that Snow couldn't make out. He stared in disbelief at the young girl who was holding out her arms expectantly. She looked no older than seventeen, but if he had to guess, she was about nineteen. Surely she wasn't was still holding out her hands expectantly. He handed the gun to her in defeat. She examined the gun.

"If push comes to shove," he grinned "keep 'em safe." he flashed her his famous wink. She pointed her gun at Snow.

"Bang." she said, mocking the gun recoil. Snow played along, and pretended to be hit with a bullet.

_**First impression of Snow? All talk.**_

He looked at the remaining deportees in front of him. "All right, lay low and you'll be fine." he advised. "We'll clear out the area."

At this moment a large group of PSICOM soldiers began to close in on the clearing. Snow noticed this and raised a fist in the air.

"We're going home together!" he shouted. None of the deportees responded. Lebreau sighed. Sometimes, Snow could be a little to cocky. It was up to her to get the message through to them.

"Come on! Everybody up!" she said cheerfully. The deportees began to scramble to their feet. Gadot grinned and turned to the rebels behind him.

"Right. New recruits-on me!" he ordered leading a charge to the waiting PSICOM army with Snow following behind. He stopped next to the mother, who was watching them leave. She was obviously having an inner conflict with herself. He patted her on the shoulder.

"Come on." he said softly.

"Right."she said, her mind made up. She started to follow, but stopped to steal a look at her son. He watched her before Lebreau helped him to his feet."Time to go, kiddo." she said.

The mother smiled and watched him. She nodded at him to let him know she would be fine, and turned to join the others. The boy watched her leave before turning to follow Lebreau. The rebels made their way through the PSICOM forces easily disposing of them, taking down one soldier after the next and making excellent progress and clearing a path for the deportees. At this rate they would make it through PSICOM in no time.

* * *

**Part Five: Fallen innocence**

"Mobilize Beta Force! Put down the resistance!" came the voice of a commander, firing his gun into the air. At that moment, a giant airship hovered over the rebels, and perched on the roof was a beta behemoth. It leaped from the roof and landed to face the rebels. Snow, Gadot, and Lebreau placed themselves between the rebels and behemoth. Snow smiled cockily. It was about time he got a real challenge.

"Heroes don't run from fights." He said arrogantly.

The behemoth reared up on its hind legs, its glowing red eyes flaring violently as it began to surge with energy. With a ground shaking roar, it charged at the group.

"We fight, and we survive!" Snow shouted, running to meat the hulking beast.

He activated the AMP in his trench-coat and swung a supercharged fist at the behemoth. The beast staggered back surprised at the power behind the punch but quickly recovered. It swung a powerful foreleg at Snow who managed to leap short of it's reach. Gadot, and Lebreau were firing at the armored behemoth, keeping it distracted while Snow managed to land a punch wherever he could land one.

Suddenly Snow found himself in the air as the beta behemoth swung its crest at him painfully launching him into the air. As he was coming down he saw the Behemoth rear up on it's hind legs and pull the crest out of its skull, know totally focused on Gadot, and Lebreau. He took advantage of it's distraction and positioned himself so that he landed on it's heavily muscled back.

It noticed the extra weight on its back and tried to shake him loose, roaring in exasperation. Snow began to inch his way up its back maintaining a tight grip on the struggling beast until he was on top of its large head. He pulled a hand-grenade out of one of his inner pockets and pulled the pin. He waited a few seconds before shoving the grenade down its throat and leaping off.

Just as he hit the ground the top half of the beta behemoth exploded in a resonating shock wave. Snow pulled himself to his feet and surveyed the scene in front of them. The rebels were fighting ferociously from behind rubble barricades. And Gadot had rejoined the fray. He gave a war-cry and charged at the PSICOM soldiers firing them down. The soldiers, realizing they were outnumbered began to fall back. Snow took cover behind some rubble and the mother from before joined him.

Suddenly the rebels stopped firing as they looked up. Closing in on them was a Havoc Skytank battle airship. It aimed its turrets at the rebels and began to fire. It was all Gadot could do to dodge the bullets by taking cover behind some rebel. He turned to Snow.

"Snow! We got trouble!" he shouted.

"No kidding." he muttered. He raised his head slightly above the barricade and looked for something he could use to take down the airship. His eyes fell on a bazooka fully loaded next to a dead PSICOM soldier. He only had one shot, but he'd take it.

"Stay here." he said to the mother, and he took off after the bazooka. The pilots of the Skytank spotted Snow running across the open. They aimed their turrets at him and fired. He leaped to avoid the oncoming rounds to cover the final distance between him and the bazooka. His hands closed around it, but he was forced to drop it as the rounds reached his hands. _Dammit! _

He tried to reach for it but was to late. He flipped over to face the battle airship and gritted his teeth as it charged its main cannon. He closed his eyes and waited for the cannon's energy beam to end him. Suddenly a missile streaked towards the cockpit and exploded in a great flash of light. The skytank began to drop from the looked to where the missile had come from, to find the mother holding the now empty and smoking bazooka. She looked down at Snow and smiled.

"I told you, didn't I?" She knelt down and offered her hand to help Snow up.

"Moms are tough." she finished. He took her hand, and she pulled him up to his feet.

Suddenly an explosion shook the ground as a missile from another Havoc Skytank shook the ground behind him. Everything happened to Snow in slow motion as the explosion sent the mother flying forward. He saw the trussway collapsing under the force of the explosion.

* * *

In the distance the young boy and the perky girl were running when the witnessed the explosion. The girl gasped and covered her mouth as the boy stared in shock. His mother was down there and he was watching her die.

Snow woke up to screaming and found the mother on top of injured but alive. She gasped in pain as he tried to get up, he found himself cradling her. She was badly injured, but if he found safety, she would be fine. And then he looked up.

"No...No!"

The trussway was still collapsing sending rebels and soldiers alike plummeting to their deaths. Snow tried to drag himself and the mother to safety, but the portion of the trussway he was on collapsed. He slid in front of the mother, grabbing her hand finding a handhold leaving them dangling over the mother looked down at the waiting ground below them, and then looked at Snow with tears brimming in her eyes.

"Get him home..." she pleaded "Please..."

"Hold on!" he begged.

She gave him a sad smile and closed her eyes. Her head drooped and Snow knew she didn't have much longer. He struggled to hold on to her as her her fingers began to slide through his hand, finally breaking free.

From the distance the boy watched the scene unfold. He saw Snow and his mother slide off the edge, Snow struggling to hold on to his mother, and finally his mother plummeting to the ground below them.

"No!" they both shouted as they watched her fall.

Snow looked at the hand that had been holding her just a few moments ago. And at that moment the handhold broke. He tried to reach for it but it was already to far away. He screamed as he to fell into the darkness below.

From the distance, the boy watched in disbelief, and began to cry. His name was Hope, but to him right now, it was now a useless name to have. The girl put her arms on Hope's shoulders to comfort him. She thought of something to say, but what could you say to someone who lost everything. Gunfire rang out behind them.

"Come on!" she urged, but he didn't budge. Angrily she turned him to face her and smacked him across the face to get his attention.

"We have to move!" she urged him.

"All...All right." he finally said.

And with that, the pair left the devastating scene behind them and searched for safety.


	4. Chapter 1: Part 6

**Chapter 1 part 6: The Fal'Cie Awaits **

The floating platform made it's way over the war struck battlefield as it made it's way to where the closest location where the fal'Cie was located. Below it machine guns and missiles moved through the air seemingly ignorant of the events happening below it. However, Sazh was watching the scenes unfold from the platform with a look of intense anger in his eyes.

"It's an out-and-out massacre." he said angrily. "Those people won't even live long enough to die on Pulse."

Lightning stepped up next to him, her gunblade drawn in gun mode and looked at the battlefield below them.

"That was the idea." she said sadly.

Sazh looked at her in surprise.

"What?" he asked in astonishment.

Lightning looked at him. Of course he didn't know. He wasn't a soldier. He was just an old aircraft pilot who got himself caught up in the events.

"Sanctum logic." she said matter of factly. "They conjured up the Purge to eliminate a threat." she continued. She knelt on one knee and surveyed the damage below them."I mean-why carry the danger all the way to Pulse?" she explained. She stood up. "Why not just stamp it out here?" she went on. She looked back towards the battle. "Execution masquerading as exile." she looked at Sazh. "That"s all the Purge ever was."

Sazh threw his hands in the air with a sigh and turned away. "'Relocation to Pulse.' how does a government get away with pulling crap like that?" he said angrily. He turned back to Lightning.

"And you- you knew this was gonna happen?" he accused.

She shook her head. "The Purge was PSICOM. Private Sanctum troops, not the Guardian Corps."

Sazh walked towards the middle of the platform. "Psicom, Guardian Corps...soldiers are soldiers, aren't they? Pulse fal'Cie, and their l'Cie are enemies of the state. Tell a soldier to kill an enemy, and you really think it's gonna matter what uniform they're wearing?" he said indicating a dead PSICOM soldier they were traveling with.

Lightning walked further away from the battle below them. "Might have mattered to that one. Couldn't shoot, got himself shot instead." she said sarcastically.

"How about you?" Sazh said quietly. "Orders say shoot, you pull the trigger?"

She ignored him. She just watched the passing scenes as the flying platform moved through The Hanging Edge. Sazh looked at her angrily, and threw his hands up in anger.

"Fine.," he snapped "Forget I asked." and with that he began to walk away from her not noticing the incoming Myrmidon tilter coming toward them.

Lighting saw it coming. She extended her blazefire saber to sword mode.

"Wait." she told Sazh. "What-"

Her words were cut off as the flew by them, turning in midair to face them. It was almost insect like, with a red, black, and white color scheme standing on four legs with various antenna produced from it's back. pr. It had large white torso with a visored head. It's left arm resemled a small shield while the other one consisted of a red arm with a semi circle forming along it's length connected by orbs.

Lightning knew what that arm was for. It was made to charge like a tazer and all it had to do was touch you to immobilize you, and then it finished you with it's shield/blade. The metal they were made from however was very sensitive to heat, and all it would take is a few well placed shots and it would go down. The only problem was finding those spots. And she had a feeling it wouldn't make finding them easy.

It lunged it's tazer arm at Lighting. She leaped to the left and aimed a shot at the joints in it's legs. She found herself ducking on instinct as it swung it's shield arm at her, however she wasn't quick enough to dodge the other arm, and a painful surge of electricity went through her body, and she collapsed. It loomed over her, and raised it's tazer arm to deal a finishing blow.

There were four loud bangs, and two large holes appeared in it's visor and the unarmored wires making up it's neck. Once again Sazh had saved her neck. She reverted her gunblade to gun form and fired two quick burst to the now exposed neck. The myrmidon shook with electricity as it began to short circuit before finally collapsing in a heap from the over heated armor.

Lighting put her gunblade in it's holster. Suddenly a long moaning siren sounded ahead of the flying platform. Sazh looked in the direction of the noise, and his eyes grew wide.

"What's that?" he asked pointing at the structure.

Ahead of them was a huge Sanctum vessel. As they watched, a hatch in it's bottom opened. A voice over the vessel's loudspeakers spoke in an official voice.

"Attention Purge deportees. Attention Purge deportees. Put down your weapons and surrender immediately." As it spoke, a foreign structure the size of a skyscraper shaped like a great mechanical cross being carried by the fal'Cie Protera lowered from the open hatch. This was the Pulse vestige. The voice continued.

"Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon. Should you attempt to flee, the Sanctum will employ every resource necessary to bring you to justice." As the voice said this, more skytanks poured from the hatch, and advanced with the vestige. This land is no longer your home. Cease hostilities and surrender at once."

* * *

As the voice was saying this, Snow was crawling his way out of the wreckage, wounded but alive.

He looked up at the vestige. He had finally reached the vestige, but now he had no way of getting to it.

"Serah!" he cried through ragged breaths.

Back at the flying platform Sazh, and Lightning watched as the vestige came closer and closer. Sazh sighed, at the sight of the great tower. For so long it had sat in Bodhum- it's residents unaware of the sleeping Pulse fal'Cie sleeping inside.

"Just what you were looking for." he finally said crossing his arms.

Lightning put a hand on her hip and marveled at it. "Yeah. Right in there."

"The Pulse fal'Cie." he sighed uncrossing his arms.

Meanwhile, Hope was finally removing his Purge robes. He looked at the fal'Cie then to a mother who was comforting her son.

"Don't worry. We'll be okay." she reassured.

Hope thought back to the scene where that man had led her mother to her death. He had seen them slide off the edge of the trussway, and he let her go. It was his fault she was dead, and Hope hated him for it.

Behind him, he heard fabric hit the ground. Hope turned around to see the girl (who's name Hope had learned to be Vanille) had taken off her purge robes as well. Underneath the robes she had bright carrot red hair worn in two curly pigtails, and large green eyes. She had pierced ears with small silver hoop earrings. She wore a light pink halter top that revealed most of her stomach, an orange and yellow skirt, and a longer fur pelt half skirt fastened behind her, and beige high-heel boots that came just above her ankles with fur around the top . Her clothes were adorned with numerous beads, and she wore three beaded necklaces around her neck, while she wore numerous bracelets on her arms.

She turned to see Hope watching her and flashed him an open mouthed smile tilting her head to one side. She looked picked up the gun that Snow had given her and shoved it in Hope's arms.

"Here." she said looked at the gun, not knowing what to do.

"Um...uh..." he began, but Vanille pulled him into a reassuring hug.

"It's to much isn't it." she asked, patting his head. She held him at arms length and smiled.

"Face it later." she said.

Hope opened his mouth to say something, but Vanille didn't give him the chance. She waved at him with both hands, and began to run off.

"Ciao!" she called as she ran off. Hope ran after her.

"Hey! Wait!" he called towards her, forgetting about the gun; leaving it and the purge robes where they left them.

**You said it made you happy when I smiled, didn't you? But really I was afraid. I was always afraid.**

* * *

Meanwhile, Sazh and Lightning were closing in on the vestige. All they were doing was waiting for the flying platform to reach it's destination. Sazh was playing with the Chocobo Chick, and Lightning was on one knee eying the Pulse vestige.

"So how do you figure that Pulse fal'Cie is different from Sanctum's?" Sazh asked Lighting to break the silence."All things being equal," he continued "I'd just as soon keep wondering." The chocobo chick jumped up and down as if it was agreeing with Sazh. Lightning stood next to Sazh and looked at him.

"Time to jump." she said suddenly, and without warning she dashed over to the edge of the platform and dived down.

"Hey, hang on!" Sazh called after her. he ran over to the edge, and watched her fall.

"What the-? Hey!" he called after her panicking.

She didn't hear him. As she was falling, she snapped her fingers. With her AMP fully charged, it sparked to life, and waves of energy surged over her body as she fell. She flipped over midair, and landed on a pocket of energy produced by the AMP. She stood up, as if it was normal to fall over a hundred stories.

Sazh looked after her with wide eyes. He had forgotten completely about the AMP technology, and he watched as she landed with perfect grace.

"Damn." He whispered in astonishment. He looked at the chocobo chick, who was now jumping up and down excitedly.

"If she can do it, so can we!" he said, letting the baby bird fly out of his hands. He started to lower himself off of the platform, but slipped. He screamed as he slid off the platform falling backwards.

Lightning who had been waiting patiently next to the AMP field took off towards the pulse vestige, and left Sazh to fall into the field. Slowly he crawled to his feet,and followed her.

* * *

At the scene of the collapse Snow had managed to locate Gadot, who was unconscious.

"Come on." he said slapping him lightly across the face. Gadot didn't move.

"Come on!" he shouted, and started smacking him harder.

That woke him up. He grunted and glared at Snow. He massaged his arm, where it had taken the full impact of the fall and moaned. He looked around and surveyed the damage in front of them. Both PSICOM and deportees bodies were strewn everywhere, some buried under the rubble from the fall. Gadot looked at Snow who was now looking around as if he was looking for something.

"What about the others?" Gadot asked, referring to the other NORA members.

Snow looked at Gadot, and for the first time Gadot saw a look of defeat in his eyes. Snow looked quickly away, so he wouldn't see anymore of his face.

"They didn't die!" Gadot said, panic seeping into his voice. "They couldn't have died!"

Snow thought for a moment before answering.

"Of course not." he said quietly, with no hint of enthusiasm.

Gadot gaped at Snow in disbelief. What happened to the cheerful, optimistic hero he had become best friends with? He got to his feet, and stretched his wounded arm, instantly feeling relief. Satisfied he turned to face Snow who obviously had something heavy weighing on his mind.

"Hey, get a grip, man!" he shouted angrily. "What's wrong with you!?"

Snow didn't hear him as he thought back to the mother's last words. Her last request.

"'Get him home.'" he muttered, repeating the mother's words. "Get who home?" he asked to himself, trying to think of who 'him' could be. They heard a crash and looked behind them as the flying platform,now unoccupied, crashed into a nearby building.

"Toss me that." Gadot said pointing at a machine gun. Snow knelt down and picked up the gun.

"Catch." he said, and tossed the gun to Gadot.

Immediately, he held the gun in one hand and pointed it at Snow. Snow looked at him in shock. He hadn't expected his best friend to turn a gun on him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"So what are you afraid of, huh?" he replied, "You're supposed to be the hero." and suddenly he grinned and relaxed the gun on his shoulders, laughing.

Snow let out a breath of relief and gave a low laugh. Of course Gadot would never shoot him. They had to much in common. Even if forced to, Gadot would never kill Snow.

"She's waiting there, ain't she?" Gadot asked with a smile. "Your lovely bride-to-be? Isn't it about time you picked her up?" he asked.

A few days ago, Snow had asked his girlfriend-Serah-to marry him to which she said yes. When they announced the engagement to Serah's sister on her birthday, she had scoffed at Snow, and made Serah run off. And then she had gotten herself trapped inside the Pulse vestige, which was why Snow was on his way to the vestige to get her out before she-along with the vestige-was moved to Pulse.

Snow looked up at the vestige, where Serah was waiting somewhere inside. He looked at Gadot and for the first time since Gadot had woken up, smiled.

"Yeah." he answered. He looked up to see a few PSICOM velocycles fly past them overhead and land nearby. Velocycles, were airborne motercycles that were used for transportation, military, and recreation. Suddenly an idea formed in his mind.

"There's our ride." he said with a low chuckle.

Gadot let out a laugh, glad that the old Snow was finally back and thinking the way he usually thinks.

"Now you're talking." he said and took his place beside Snow.

A couple of minutes later, they were spying on where the velocycles had parked. There were three of them, and they were being guarded by a few PSICOM sentries on high alert.

"I want every weapon ready to fire. Stay sharp." Their leader reminded them.

Snow looked up from where he was kneeling in front of Gadot and looked up at him.

"All right, on my go." he whispered.

"Right." Gadot responeded.

Snow held up three fingers, and began to count down with them. As the last finger went down he shouted.

"Go!"

And with that, Gadot charged out from behind cover with a war cry and shot down a third of the soldiers before they knew what happened. Snow charged at them, and barely even a minute later, they had taken out the soldiers. A couple more minutes and they were powereing up the velocycles.

"That's a sad sound." Gadot complained as the cycle's engine powered up. "Where's the soul?" he said as Snow got into his velocycle.

Snow leaned out of the velocycle an looked up towards the vestige. Serah was up there somewhere and he was finally coming for her. He looked over to Gadot, who was flipping a few switches, and thought back to what the mother had said.

"Hey, Gadot." he called.

"Yeah?" replied Gadot.

"If you don't know who you've got to save, you just protect them all, right?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the vestige.

Gadot chuckled. It was probably another one of Snow's hero cracks, but as Snow looked at him he looked serious.

"Something on your mind?" he asked. He leaned back on his cycle. "You got plenty of time for thinking on the way, hero."

Snow chuckled, and leaned into the cycle. Gadot was right. Once he got Serah back safe and sound, then he would worry about what the mother had said.

"Yeah." He said finally.

Gadot nodded at Snow than turned back to the controls. He activated his velocycle and pulled around to the other side of Snow as he was turning his around.

"Ready..." he shouted over the engine, a challenge in his eyes. Snow wordlessly excepted it. If it was a race Gadot wanted, he'd get it. They leaned over the controls, and looked at the path in front of them.

"Go!" shouted Snow.

And with that they flew into the sky, each trying to overtake the other.


	5. Chapter One: Part Seven

**Chapter 1 part 7: Into the Vestige**

As they were flying in the velocycles, Snow and, Gadot spotted the other NORA members who had miraculously survived. They were taking care of some deportees away from the heavy fighting on a skybridge. Gadot called out to them.

Lebreou and the others looked up, and noticing the military velocycles, moved into position to open fire.

"Hey! It's us, it's us! Don't shoot!" Snow reassured, throwing his hands in the air as he and  
Gadot pulled up the velocyles.

The NORA members let out sighs of relief and lowered their guns, as Gadot got off his cycle.

"Snow!" Maqui yelled excitedly, running up to him and waving as he turned of the engine.

Gadot leaned on Snow's velocycle and looked down at him, grinning.

"Since when do you care about kids?" he asked now that they were parked.

Snow looked away for a moment before answering.

"Favor for a friend." he replied remembering the mothers final request.

"Okay." Gadot said, more confused than before.

Maqui finally reached Snow with Yuj following close behind.

Hey, Snow! You made it!" he said in between breaths.

"Yo." Gadot greeted Lebreau.

"Hey." she greeted back.

Gadot turned to Maqui. "So, finally manage to use that thing?" he teased, indicating Maqui's gun.

"Nah, I think I'm done." he laughed.

"You're done when we are." Yuj joked, flicking Maqui painfully in the head.

* * *

Some distance away, Hope watched as Snow laughed, and joked with the other members. A spark of hatred flared as he saw the older man laugh along with his friends.

"That's the one." he indicated to Vanille, barely able to control the anger that flowed with the words.

"Didn't you have something to tell him?" she asked, hoping he wouldn't do anything that could harm him or Snow.

"Yeah." he said after a moment's pause.

"All right then." she said with an air of adventure in her voice.

Hope hesitated. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to say to Snow. He couldn't just run up to him and scream 'You killed my mom!'. That would make him look stupid and Snow wouldn't take him seriously. He looked at the ground, unsure what to do.

"But...I..."he stuttered.

Vanille placed her hands on her knees, and looked Hope in the eyes, smiling.

"I'll go with you." she offered.

"What?" he asked, astonished.

Meanwhile, everyone was grouped around Snow, listening to Maqui tell Snow and Gadot, what happened after they seperated.

* * *

"You have no idea what it was like." he complained.

"Everyone safe?" Snow asked.

Maqui and Yuj looked at each other and laughed. They struck a victory pose and shouted "The army's no match for NORA!" Gadot burst out in laughter, and Lebreau struck them both upside the head.

"Grow up." she laughed.

"I meant the kids." Snow said laughing.

Yuj moved out of range of Lebreau's hand and turned to Snow.

"All accounted for." he reported.

"Okay." Snow said, turning back to the velocycle's controls. "Let's keep it that way, all right?"

Hope hadn't moved to confront Snow, and Vanille impatiently shoved him towards the NORA members.

"Go on." she urged placing her hands on her hips.

Hope stopped where he was, to scared to speak to Snow or move any closer. Vanille sighed. Looks like she's have to make him talk. She walked past Hope towards the NORA members.

"Hey!" she called, but their voices were drowned out as Snow's velocycle roared back to life.

Vanille and Hope covered their ears to try and block out the noise.

"I'll swing by the vestige." Snow informed the NORA members. "Keep the kids out of trouble."

"You got it." Gadot answered taking his elbow off the velocycle and crossing his arms. "Say hi to the missus for me!" he said with a grin. "You go skirt chasing, " he began and turned to the other members. "I take care of the kids. Some husband!" he said laughing.

"Dinners on me." teased Snow.

Gadot pointed at Snow "Better be home cooking!"

"When's the wedding, lover boy!" Yuj teased.

"Ha, ha." Snow laughed with mock enthusiasm. "Don't worry, none of you are invited!" he said as the velocycle began to lift off.

"Hey, you serious?" Maqui protested.

"What about me?" Lebreau added.

* * *

Hope angrily watched as Snow lifted off the ground. The guy was more worried about saving some girl in the vestige, than help those who were still on the battlefield. It made him sick.

"Catch ya later!" Snow called out to the group, and with that out of the way, he raced towards the vestige.

Vanille tried to wave him down, but he was already to far gone. She let out a sigh and stamped her foot in frustration. For a girl of nineteen, she acted younger than she was. She turned to Hope, a look of apology in her eyes. But his attention was focused on the velocycle growing smaller as it went towards the vestige, a look of hatred in his eyes. She went back to trying to flag down Snow, to no avail.

"Wait!" she called.

She noticed the velocycle and went to examine it. She had never seen one before, so she had no idea how it worked. She leaned against it tried to figure out how to work it. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see Hope behind her, with a look of regret in his eyes.

"You okay?" she asked

He met her eyes before looking back down.

"I want to tell him, it's just that-" he began, but he suddenly grabbed Vanille's arm, holding it in comfort. She looked around, unsure what to do. Than an idea sparked in her head.

"Say..." she pointed at the velocycle. "You know how to fly this?" she asked.

Hope looked at it. His father had taught him when he was younger, but he never had the chance to actually fly one.

"Yeah. I think so." he said, a little unsure of himself.

She grabbed his hands excitedly.

"All right!" she said cheerfully. She laughed and turned him around.

"In you go." and she shoved him into the velocycle. She hopped in behind him and pointed at the vestige.

"That way." she said, with a hint of mischief in her voice.

She wrapped her arms around Hope's waist, expecting him to take off automatically, but he looked at the vestige in fear. He looked down and shook his head.

"No, no..." he said quietly.

Vanille stared at him.

"If we go in there,that thing could-" he began, than hesitated. "It could make us l'Cie." he said fearfully. "This is...I don't think I can-" he began, but Vanille held his hands on the steering bar.

"You _can_ do it!" she said cheerfully.

Suddenly, Gadot's voice rang out to him from across the bridge.

"What are you two doing?"

They turned around to see Gadot running as fast as he could, towards them. Hope, with renewed motivation, quickly switched on the velocycle.

"Here we go!" he shouted, and revved the cycle.

The velocycle, lurched upwards into the air, and prepared to move forward. Gadot had just reached the velocycle, when it lurched forwards. Vanille let out a shriek as the velocycle moved clumsily through the air.

"Uh oh." he said as he watched the velocycle plunge off the bridge, and heard Vanille screaming. Hope, with fierce determination, pulled up on the handlebars. The velocycle lurched above the bridge, just as Gadot reached the edge. Hope stopped the velocycle and looked down at Gadot.

"Get down here!" the big man shouted. "Do you hear me? Hey!"

And with Hope now in full control of the velocycle, he sped towards the Pulse vestige.

**The Pulse fal'Cie. It held our future-and our fate.**


End file.
